I don't have the space for a fridge to turn into a kegerator so I need to be able to keep my lager kegs chilled while they're out of the brew fridge carbonating and later while they're attached and being served.
Neoprene keg sleeves are available for about £20 on ebay which seemed like a lot for a rubber band so I scratched my head and came up with a solution that cost me £0.00 to make out of some spare mineral wool loft insulation and a couple of plastic recycling sacks.
Cut a strip of the insulation to the size you'll need to fit the height of the keg and so it will wrap around with about 10cm of extra.
Take a recycling sack and fully insert one end of the mineral wool strip. Fully insert the other end into the second sack so the sacks meet in the middle. Tape them together at the overlap. A few more pieces of tape will keep the sacks tight against the wool.
Poke a few vent holes in the ends so they will wrap without ballooning up.
Wrap around the kegs and tie with a couple of lengths of rope or ideally bungee cord.
Enjoy your free (if you have the spare insulation) keg cozy! The 200mm mineral wool I used has an r-value of 4.5 and that's WAY higher than a typical 3mm band of neoprene so your keg should stay cool much longer.
After use if you lift the cozy off carefully it will retain its shape so it can be dropped back on when you next need it.
Neoprene keg sleeves are available for about £20 on ebay which seemed like a lot for a rubber band so I scratched my head and came up with a solution that cost me £0.00 to make out of some spare mineral wool loft insulation and a couple of plastic recycling sacks.
Cut a strip of the insulation to the size you'll need to fit the height of the keg and so it will wrap around with about 10cm of extra.
Take a recycling sack and fully insert one end of the mineral wool strip. Fully insert the other end into the second sack so the sacks meet in the middle. Tape them together at the overlap. A few more pieces of tape will keep the sacks tight against the wool.
Poke a few vent holes in the ends so they will wrap without ballooning up.
Wrap around the kegs and tie with a couple of lengths of rope or ideally bungee cord.
Enjoy your free (if you have the spare insulation) keg cozy! The 200mm mineral wool I used has an r-value of 4.5 and that's WAY higher than a typical 3mm band of neoprene so your keg should stay cool much longer.
After use if you lift the cozy off carefully it will retain its shape so it can be dropped back on when you next need it.
